The envelope glycoprotein gp41 mediates the process of membrane fusion that enables entry of the HIV-1 virus into the host cell. Strong lipid affinity of the ectodomain suggests that its heptad repeat regions play an active role in destabilizing membranes by directly binding to the lipid bilayers and thereby lowering the free-energy barrier for membrane fusion. In such a model, immediately following the shedding of gp120, the N-heptad and C-heptad helices dissociate and melt into the host cell and viral membranes, respectively, pulling the destabilized membranes into juxtaposition, ready for fusion. Post-fusion, reaching the final 6-helix bundle (6HB) conformation then involves competition between intermolecular interactions needed for formation of the symmetric 6HB trimer and the membrane affinity of gp41's ectodomain, including its membrane-proximal regions. Our solution NMR study of the structural and dynamic properties of three constructs containing the ectodomain of gp41 with and without its membrane-proximal regions suggests that these segments do not form inter-helical interactions until the very late steps of the fusion process. Interactions between the polar termini of the heptad regions, which are not associating with the lipid surface, therefore may constitute the main driving force initiating formation of the final post-fusion states. The absence of significant intermolecular ectodomain interactions in the presence of dodecyl phosphocholine and bicelles consisting of DMPC and dihexanoyl phosphatidylcholine suggested the importance of trimerization of gp41s transmembrane helix to prevent complete dissociation of the trimer during the course of fusion. To gain further insight into the role of the transmembrane domain, we followed up on a recent study (Science 353: 172-175, 2016) which reported the trimeric structure of this segment. Even while our spectra were indistinguishable from those reported, analysis of residual dipolar couplings (RDCs) reported with both paramagnetic tagging and with using anisotropically compressed gels, indicated this trimeric structure is incompatible with the RDCs. Subsequent ultracentrifuge work also contradicts the homotrimeric structure of this domain, and currently on-going measurements by EPR spectroscopy indicate that even in T-cell mimicking vesicles the tendency to form homotrimeric structures is very small.